Bob HackettGalen went on to be a pitching coach of some repute. He used to have to warm up longer in the bullpen prior to a start because he always had control trouble early in the game and he said he wanted to get to the 3rd inning before the game started.

rgI think he played in the Rose Bowl with Ohio State before becoming a baseball player. His shining Met moment was in the 23 inning game against the Giants in 1964 when he threw something like seven shutout innings in relief.

Dave Margolis
September 29, 2001The game of 8/16/64 at Shea was the first I ever attended. The World's Fair was going on just across the way. The Mets win over the Phillies that day broke up a string of something like 15 losses in a row to the Phils that year. By an incredible fluke, 30 years later, I was able to acquire a cassette of the radio play-by-play for that game. It seems strange in this day and age, that Cisco's 3.62 ERA that season only netted him a 6-19 mark; even stranger it is to fathom that the Mets were so bad then that Cisco was considered to be one of their ACES that season. "You gotta be a pretty good pitcher," Roger Craig is to have said, "to lose 20."

Al
February 21, 2002The one thing I will always remember about Galen Cisco, is that according to Bob Murphy "HE USED TO BACK THE LINE AT OHIO STATE!. From what I remember he used to do a lot of backing up third as well!

ds
May 7, 2002Not really about Galen so much but... Dave Margolis, that game was also my first game and the game that turned me into a Met fan for good despite my older brother being for the other NY team. The only Galen I've ever known of.

VIBaseball
September 1, 2004I saw Galen Cisco at an autograph show once. He was there with Duke Snider -- you can imagine the relative length of the lines. But I had to ask (while getting my '64 Cisco signed) why those early Mets turned out so many pitching coaches -- himself, Craig, Jackson, Bearnarth, just off the top of my head.

I gave him my theory -- they all must have developed a lot of patience. Galen was pretty much nonplussed. He didn't have anything constructive to offer.

JFK
May 24, 2006Pitched the most innings in a relief appearance for the Mets. May 31, 1964 he pitched 9 innings in relief in a 23 inning game against the Giants.

Maxwell Kates
April 15, 2007In 1997, Galen Cisco broke Jim Turner's record for most seasons as a major league pitching coach. Cisco was the pitching coach for the Royals (1971-79), Expos (1980-84), Padres (1985-87), Blue Jays (1988, 1990-1995), and Phillies (1997-2000), for a grand total of 28 seasons. Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan tied Cisco's record on Opening Day 2007.

Incidentally, Mel Harder, Mel Stottlemyre, and Rube Walker - Mets coaches all - also served greater than 20 years instructing pitchers on the major league level.

Jonathan Stern
May 7, 2007My father often speaks of the day he went to Shea and saw Cisco lose both games of the longest double header in baseball history. It was May 31, 1964. The stadium ran out of food and a young Gaylord Perry, pitching for the victorious Giants, first experimented with the spitball. Meanwhile, Cisco pitched nine innings in one of those games, performing well enough... to lose.

Quality Met
February 13, 2012Following his career as a pitcher, Galen went on to become an outstanding major league pitching coach. He served in this position for 28 seasons, 17 of which his teams recorded winning percentages above the .500 mark. Galen was a staff member for seven division champions and six second-place teams. As a rookie coach in 1971, he guided the pitching staff of a third-year Kansas City team that won 85 games and finished second in the American League West. The Royals eventually went on to become a three-time division winner under Galen. Cisco also guided the staff of the Toronto Blue Jays' World Championship teams of 1992 and 1993.

The Hall of Fame has honored players, managers, executives and umpires since 1936. Has anyone ever been elected to the Hall solely as a coaching staff member? I don't think so. Perhaps this is something that ought to be considered. Galen would be worthy of such an honor. He is one of the greatest pitching coaches of all time.